Game of Thrones: A Spoiler-Free Discussion of the Cruel Irony of Book Reader Frustration

If you watched tonight’s finale of Game of Thrones with a book reader, it’s likely that you saw an unexpected reaction. We book readers, are quite used to you, the unsullied show-watcher, crying out in anger and pain. But it’s very unusual for the roles to be reversed. And yet that’s what happened tonight. The episode did not end the way book readers wanted it to. And not just the sticklers. Even those of us who didn’t mind Jojen biting it early and loved every minute of the non-book showdown between Brienne and The Hound were frustrated.

We won’t get into why book readers were disappointed because it’s still possible the show runners will deploy that plot next year and we wouldn’t want to spoil it. (Spoilery group therapy at the bottom of the article, book readers.) But isn’t this reaction sort of fascinating and, well, familiar? Didn’t you show watchers hear the same cries of frustration and pain from book readers tonight that they heard from you unsullied show watchers when, say, Ned Stark lost his head, Catelyn Stark had her throat slit, and Oberyn Martell had his face popped? How does it feel, book readers, to be the ones caught unaware? Don’t you wish, unsullied show watchers, that youhad been the ones filming us tonight?

Book readers, our undoing tonight was the same that plagues all who engage with George R.R. Martin’s text. Ramsay Snow put it this way last season...

And we, the book readers, should know that better than anyone. There’s no happy ending or safety when it comes to Game of Thrones. No, not even if you’ve read the books. Unsullied show watchers lost even more certainty tonight as a few more of their heroes bit the dust. (Both Tyrion Lannister and Arya Stark went very dark in this episode.) Who do they root for now that Oberyn, Ned, Robb, and Cat are dead and Tyrion and Arya are murderers or worse? But we book readers lost something too: our smug certainty. Though I suppose we should have learned that lesson back in episode 4 of this year? Just like show watchers it may take us a few more times to learn our lesson. And now, if you don’t like spoilers, get out of here, because here comes the book reader therapy.